Recipe For Love
by ValentinaEmo-256
Summary: Ulquiorra has been giving a blessing and a curse. One, that his wife had left him, yet she blessed him with his daughter, Mizuki. And after he swore he would not love again, he slowly falls for the baker-girl Orihime Inoue, who promised his daughter to give her the best cake in the whole world. She loves their family, but he wants her away, far as possible so she won't get hurt.


"Oooh!" A little girl about the age of five squealed, "I want that one!" She pointed towards the large, double-chocolate, cake that stayed in the display case. The other cakes looked pretty delicious, but when it came to chocolate, nothing else mattered.

"I want that one daddy!" She declared. Her hair swished around her face as she energetically began jumping up and down and tugged on her father's trench coat.

The customers, who all sat in the lounge room, or waited patiently behind the two chuckled at the scene. The father seemed irritated by the squealing and jumping. While the girl was all cheerful, beaming pretty much.

Orihime giggled from behind the counter. She loved when children came into the bakery, her favorite part was when their eyes get big and sparkle when the smell of desserts fill their nostrils. Dusting her hands on her apron, she moved closer in front of the cash register. She smiled, "How may I help you today?"

She watched how the pale man began to open his mouth, but the little child next to him shouted, "That one! That one! Oh, please! Oh, please! That one! That one!" The little girl stuck out her finger at the double chocolate cake. Inoue nodded, of course, what child didn't like chocolate? Especially in the winter. "Mizuki." The man deadpanned.

She immediately snapped her feels together and stopped her jumping. She continued to stare at the cake with large beady blue eyes. "As you can see, we will be taking that one." His long white finger pointed dully at the cake. "Of course," Was Orihime's reply. She slide the glass frame back, the aroma of cake filled everyone's nostrils. With her gloved hands, she carefully pulled the cake off the tray and onto the sheet. "Would you like anything on it?"

"A simple, Happy Birthday will do." He murmured.

Orihime turned to the back where Chiharu was. "Chiharu-san, we have another order. A cake, Happy Birthday-"

"Mizuki!"

She blushed, "Um, a cake that says Happy Birthday, Mizuki!"

"And rainbow gumdrops, and smiley faces, and chocolate chips, blue frosting and-and-and!" The man covered his daughter's mouth and glanced at her with narrowed eyes. Sometimes he wished she was as silent as he when he was a child. Orihime stopped shouting orders to her Co-Worker. "How about," She looked straight at the little girl when she said this. "I make a special cake just for you." Mizuki's eyes grew bigger, if that was even possible, and started jumping again.

"Really!? Really?! You mean it? Truly? Truly!" She made a motion to jump over the counter, but she stopped herself. Her eyes went back to their original size she crossed her arms and stuck out her pinkie from her right hand. "You have to pinky swear to me!"

"Mizuki, I don't think that's necessary." He sighed out.

His daughter glared, "She has pinkie promise!"

"Mizuki!" He raised his voice slightly, but not by much. The girl stopped what she was doing and lowered her gaze to the ground. He cleared his throat, viridian eyes bore into hers. "I believe we will be fine with the first cake." He finished. Orihime removed her apron, went around the counter and stood to the man. He wasn't that tall, but he was fairly taller than her. Actually, almost everyone was taller than Inoue.

"I think," Orihime began. She bent lower to the little girl and ruffled her hair, "it'll be just fine if I make that special cake. After all, pinkie promises are very serious." Mizuki's head lifted and she beamed. A pearly white smile. Orihime in return stuck out her own pinkie. "I, Orihime Inoue, promise to give you the best cake in the whole wide world." Mizuki gripped the woman's pinkie with her own.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" She grinned. Mizuki hugged the woman around the waist. The woman giggled again, then she turned to the man. "Um, if you don't mind for this cake preparations, I need your name and number." She blushed at the intense stare he was giving her. He wasn't that bad. His pale skin brought out his large green eyes, that held mystery. His black hair was messily brushed around her face and balanced on the tip of his shoulders. He also had a dark upper lip that you never noticed on a guy. He was deeply attractive. And she wasn't the only one who took notice to that.

His daughter on the other hand looked almost like him. They both had the same emotionless face, when she didn't smile. She also had long wild black hair. The rest, she may have looked like her mother. She possessed beautiful diamond blue eyes, and rosy red cheeks. She wasn't as pale as her father, but she was about two shades from it. She was adorable.

Mizuki fiddled with her long blue scarf. The man clenched his jaw. "Ulquiorra Schiffer," He said quickly. He gave off the number faster than that. Inoue was happy that she was able to memorize a bunch of things that were spoken to her.

She smiled slightly, "Alright, Mr. Schiffer, I will let you know when your cake is ready." Her gaze shifted lower. "And Mizuki, I'll make sure that it's the best cake ever."

Mizuki bounced, "Of course you promised!"

"It's time for us to depart, Mizuki." The girl bowed once more and followed her father out the door. The small chime let everyone know that they had left the store. Orihime leaned back on the counter with a small smile on her face. That child was so cute. Her father was handsome. But why was he so... emotionless. She placed her apron back on and went to help Chiharu with the rest of the cakes.

**...**

**...**

"Daddy, that woman is nice, ne?" Mizuki asked, she and her father walked down the sidewalk. Well, she skipped while he trudged beside her.

"Hn." He responded.

"She has nice silver eyes!" She grinned.

"Hn." He replied again.

"Also long auburn hair! It's so pretty! So Shiny!" She continued to skip ahead of her father. Enjoying the way the snow crunched under her boots. Ulquiorra sighed at his daughter's peppiness. He gritted his teeth as the cold air brushed against his face. He hated the winter. Always had. Every since he was a little boy, he was more of a fall person. Maybe even spring. "Daddy! Do you think we could change my hair color to auburn?"

"Absolutely not." He spat. Mizuki nodded with a small smirk playing on her lips. She clasped her hands behind her back and looked up to the sky. "I wonder what cake she is going to make." She smiled. "I think it's going to a huge chocolate cake, with gummy worms, oreos, sprinkles, blue frosting, cherries, strawberries, a picture of my face and words that say Happy Birthday!" She spun in three circles and turned to her dad. "What do you think, daddy?"

Ulquiorra buried his chin in his green scarf. "I do not know, Mizuki." He said.

"But your daddy! You have to know everything!" She squealed. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and watched his daughter continue to skip in front of him. He thought about the bakery lady. Sure she was pretty, but she had imagination just like his daughter. Just like her mother. He scoffed in his head. He wasn't going down that line again. With a sigh he followed his daughter.

**...**

**...**

Orihime finished her shift early. In fact her boss told her to take it easy, after Orihime had told him about the big order. Actually he gave her two weeks off to prepare for the cake. Orihime opened the door of her apartment, stomped the snow off her boots and closed the door. The first thing she did was unbutton the heavy coat and draped it over her couch.

She shimmed out of her pink cardigan and went to change in her home clothes. When she was finished, she sat down at the couch and looked at the scattered magazines of special cakes. "What to do for a little girl's birthday cake?" She pondered aloud. Her auburn hair draped over her eyes, so she had to place it back into a ponytail. After the small "Crisis" she looked at the beautiful cakes on the magazines.

The cakes were colorful, upbeat, happy, and decorated like a dream. While some were plain, but held strong texture to it. While others were shaped like any little kid would want: A race car, a princess, even a fictional character. The young woman grabbed three magazines and tore them apart. The design that she disliked where to be thrown away in the trash can. While the others she kept and glued them together. "I got it!" She beamed. Before she could even decide on what to do, her house phone rang.

She jumped up and answered. "Orihime Inoue speaking." She said. Every week she tried to come up with a cool creative greeting, but so far nothing had popped up. So she had to use the dull, boring answer.

_"Orihime!"_

"Tatsuki! How was the trip? I heard your team was undefeated, I'm so proud of you. Did you play alright? You didn't get hurt did you? Oh don't make me call the ambulance? Maybe we could get ice cream after, I heard that the red bean coconut shaving flavor was to die for. That is if you don't _die! _Oh, please! Don't die T, Tatsuki you have so much to live for-"

"_Orihime." Her best friend on the other end sighed at the girl's active imagination. Tatsuki shifted the phone between her ear and shoulder. "I'm alright. I'm fine, I'm still alive and I'm not going to die." She confirmed._

Orihime blew out a sigh of relief. "What a relief! I'm so glad you're alright! So what do want?"

"_I'm sorry!" Tatsuki snapped sarcastically, "I just wanted to see how my best friend was during, didn't mean to intrude on her daily popular life!" She chuckled at the end of the line._

Orihime flushed, "N-no, well I just wasn't expecting a call from you. I'm glad you called, really I am. But I-"

"_This isn't the best time huh?" She guessed. "What you have a boyfriend or something?"_

"W-what!? Ye-NO! NO! I don't have a boyfriend!" She cried loudly.

_Tatsuki sang, "Sure, sure, can't wait to meet him when I get back!"_

_"_Tatsuki-WAIT!"

The phone call ended with a loud beep. The raven-haired girl had stopped the call with a terrible ending. Orihime. She seriously did not have a boyfriend. Nor would she get one. The man that she loved, hadn't notice her. In fact he would never notice her. After all, he was married to one of her closest friend. Rukia Kuchiki. And she wouldn't want to ruin his happiness or ruin her friendship with Rukia.

She slowly placed the phone back in its receiver and curled up on the couch. Ichigo wasn't perfect. He wasn't what she was looking for. But why did she have such a strong attraction to the man? Probably because he saved her. That had to be it. This could be all a silly crush. But dammit, if it was a silly crush, then her heart wouldn't ache every time she saw him and Rukia together. She would be happy.

She didn't feel like working on the cake. She promised the girl, but she had a weeks left. She could get it done in time. She cuddled with the large body pillow and closed her silver eyes. She just needed a little nap. Just to clear her head. That is what every one needed. When she let the darkness drift into her mind for a peaceful slumber. She couldn't help but think of those viridian eyes she saw this morning.

**...**

**...**

* * *

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It took me a while. And yeah Ichigo is with Rukia for this story. Although I love Ichihime. And I love Ulquihime. Who will Ichigo be with in Ulquihime stories. I won't dare choose Senna or other women, so yeah. It's the same with Ichihime, who will Ulquiorra be with? More than likely my OC. Anyway read and review. Bye**


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